physics friendly, the fun will be oohing and awing over a very different kind of spark. that does it for us tonight. you can check out my work at wonkblog.com or follow me on twitter at twitter.com/ezraklein, and on facebook, facebook.com/ezraklein. now it is time for "the last more than a million people without power. there she blows. a world war ii naval ship is sent to its final resting place off the coast of florida. >> and rockets red glare. the sun unleashes a solar display just in time for the fourth of july. good morning to you. this is "first look" on msnbc.

we begin this morning with a mid-atlantic meltdown. in the middle of a stifling heat wave more than a million people are still without power this morning. crews are working feverishly to restore electricity. officials warn it may still be out for several more days raising fears the death toll now at 22 could continue to rise. >> reporter: washington, d.c. on day three of the massive power outage. it's another scorcher. and still no air conditioning for a million households from north carolina to new jersey. >> at this point what are we left to do? what are we left with? >> reporter: trees. work crews have thousands to lift off homes anticipate cars. utility crews have to rewire a grid that's been ravaged. pepco the utility serving washington has crews in from georgia, texas, even canada.

>> tree trimmers, contract line crews, our crews, we're really starting -- we're going to make a dent in this. >> you know people are not happy? >> absolutely. we get it. >> frustrated. >> reporter: david rutland's refrigerator and his neighbor's are full of spoiling food. with gas stations unable to pump. and thousands of people crowding malls and cooling shelters and libraries and schools, word is power might not be back on for many until friday. >> we put a lot of money into restoring or hardening the system but this was an extreme event. >> reporter: the first storms blasted through friday night. 90 mile-per-hour winds. >> you could see the rain coming through, trees falling, trash lifting off the ground. >> reporter: more storms, heavy rain in chicago. wind in north carolina toppled more trees. one killed a couple on a golf cart. another killed a man taking refuge in a barn.

the death toll in the storms past 22 and today will be even hotter from coast to coast. and in the mid-atlantic more potentially powerful storms are forecast. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. attorney general eric holler said republicans voted again him to make the attorney general a proxy to attack president obama. he said he won resign after becoming the first cabinet member held in contempt. he said he's angry but not surprised by the vote over the justice department's decision not to turn over documents from the fast and furious gun tracking operation. he said in an election year you would have to be exceedingly naive to think that vote was about documents. a surprising new poll finds climate change is no longer american's chief environmental concern. according to a new washington poll stanford university to 8% of americans consider water and

air pollution to be the world's biggest environmental problem compared to 18% now worried about global warming. that's down from 33% back in 2007 around the same time a major u.n. climate report and al gore's documentary about global warming warming," an inconvenient truth" was released. a cutter was destroyed and sunk. it took three minutes to down the vessel which will now rest at the bottom of the gulf of mexico attracting sea life, divers and anglers. in georgia it is called century plan but it took 35 years for this piece of greenery to have an overnight growth spurt. it is high above the home of

savannah. century plants die quickly leaving behind only small portions of their once towering presence. in indiana, you know the old saying about the mail getting through no matter what the weather. what about the mail box? this one was no match for the intense triple-digit heat. the owner says next time he'll buy a metal one. gentleman now to the national weather we go to bill karins for the weather channel forecast. will we see much more of that? >> melting mail boxes? >> melting -- >> you know, these events after hurricanes these long power outages, how did we survive without air conditioning back in the '30s when they had the record heat? fans, right? >> old-fashioned ac. >> cold lemonade on the porch.

good morning everyone. most of us do have air conditioning. we've been using it and abusing it. we'll start this morning with strong thunderstorms rolling through the northern plains, minneapolis, saginaw, michigan, green bay, and claire, wisconsin all areas dodging thunderstorms this morning and people waking up early in the morning. let's go minneapolis. severe thunderstorm warning on the east side of town. more storms building back behind here too so you're not done quite yet. one strong storm went through. another line still to come. most of these storms are now heading over here to the east. shift over here to interstate 94, there's a thunderstorm warning four. further east, green bay no severe weather for you but you're getting rain and lightning strikes up to the north. another round of storms coming at you in about a half hour and hour. pretty strong storm in central michigan. here's saginaw, michigan. these are drifting over saginaw

and flint over interstate 75, hairy drive about an hour from now. keep that in mind some of the travel trouble spots as you start your morning. yesterday a very hot day once again. st. louis, five days in a row of 100 tree heat. we'll watch that heat again today. today the worst of it, st. louis, kansas city to chicago and all the way down here into texas. we do have some heat warnings in effect especially southern illinois and that's where the heat index could be around 110 later on today. not much for the east coast. still in the 90s but not seeing that all-time record heat. >> entire nation it was all red. deals are made and you won't believe the latest think up for sale on e-bay. your latest look at business headlines is straight ahead. >> the mets make a huge trade and deja vu for the pirates. you're watching "first look" on nbc. to a little girl who saw flames reach her home

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welcome back to "first look." here are some of the top stories. the arab league is calling on syrian opposition figures to you night as another 85 soldiers including a general and 14 officers defected to turkey. syrian about said he regrets the shooting down of the turkish plane but will not allow tension to turkey to result in open warfare. two kids got beyond security and grabbed the torch flame. police intervened and escorted them away. in london, the gold, silver and bronze medals for the olympic games have been taken to the tower of london for safe keeping. tower has been used for over 600 years to store england's crown jewels and store the medals until the 2012 games end in august. so which state consumes the

most beer per person? a new beer institute report on consumption found that residents in new hampshire drink more per capita than any other state fold by north dakota, montana, south dakota and nevada. utah with its large nondrinking mormon population was last in beer consumption. and the sun shot out a flare yesterday that was big enough to disrupt radio communications in europe. the eruption of electrically charged particles may sweep past to spark a fireworks show somewhere on the fourth of july. so cool. now here's your "first look" at this morning's dish of scrambled politics. former new york congressman anthony weiner made several media appearances in several days which prompted speculation he's testing the waters for a come back. he said he regretted the twitter scandal that caused him to

resign from office. he denies plans to run for office again. president obama is not getting as much support from first time voters as he did in 2008. polls show they are more likely to be conservative or say they have less faith in government in general. the republican national committee announced virginia governor bob mcdonnell will be the flunl head of the platform committee at the gop convention in august. in a statement, texas congressman said he was saddened to learn that his sister's home in corpus christi was raided by a police s.w.a.t. team looking for drugs and weapons. new jersey governor chris christie was short tempered with a reporters question. he said quote are you stupid. on topic. next question. country singer materieryl hd

said he won't vote for obama or mitt romney. he said he doesn't think either is capable of running the country. the soccer team supports romney. no one is sure romney likes soccer. that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. now here is your "first look." the dow opens at 12,871 after losing eight points yesterday but the s&p was up three, the nasdaq added 16. taking a look at overseas trading this morning in tokyo, the nikkei gained 63 points while hong kong, the hang seng shot up 294. stocks struggled to stay out of the redmond after some sobering economic data. news that u.s. manufacturing shrank. industrial stocks took a beating. best buy jumped 6% on reports that its founder is nearing a

deal to take the company private. and am blend pharmaceutical rose after bristol myers agreed to buy it. dow won it's bid to acquire software maker quest. drug giant glaxosmithkline agreed to pay $3 billion the largest fine ever in a health care fraud case for years illegal practices including kickbacks, soft advertising and failure to warn of health risks. elsewhere microsoft admitted more than $6 billion it spent buying an ad company went to waste. >> barclay's chief resigned in the wake of an interest rigging case. a little good news if you're getting away by car for the fourth. gas prices are 22 cents cheaper than last year at around $3.35 a gallon. speaking of getting away, 51% of executives are not checking in with the office

while on vacation. back in 2010 only 26% went offline while away. finally forget about bake sales one pennsylvania high school is hoping to raise funds by auctioning itself on e-bay. bidding was said to begin at $6,000. the winner won't own the school but he or she will get a free pizza, naming rites and a chance to deliver a speech at graduation. a costly error and no need for a coin flip or a runoff for that olympic tiebreaker. back to game gaffes that have you thinking you could see double. your "first look" at straights is straight ahead. you're watching msnbc. congratulations you are our one millionth customer. people don't like to miss out on money that should have been theirs. that's why at ally we have the raise your rate 2-year cd. you can get a one-time rate increase if our two-year rate goes up.

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welcome back to "first look." i'm veronica de la cruz. in sports the nba's brooklyn nets made a big offseason acquisition. here's mario solis. good morning. it was the first big move of the nba offseason and, no, it wasn't dwight howard or darrin williams but it involved the brooklyn nets. according to reports they trade five players in a first-round pick to the hawks for joe johnson, the all-star guard averaging 19 points last season, the nets are hoping the acquisition of johnson convince darrin williams to resign with brooklyn. track and field alex and tarmoh tied for third in the 100 meter final last week. they were supposed to have a runoff yesterday to determine who would win the last spot.

but tarmoh backed out conceding the race to felix. all is not lost for tar month, she will be an alternate. baseball now, yankees and rays tied it 3-3. eliot johnson squeak one back to teixeira. and he was catching touchdowns for the fighting irish last night he was mowing down the atlantic braves. bases loaded in the seventh. the cubbies won four in a row. they win this one 4-1. he had his 27th homer the year. biggest home run of the night, a grand slam to straightaway center. royals win. bit of history in pittsburgh. fourth inning gary jones hits a solo shot off the right field

foul pole. neil walker hits a solo shot. deja vu all over again. back-to-back jacks off the upright. first time that's happened since 2000. pirates beast the astros 11-2. that's your "first look" at sports. i'm mario solis. >> for another look at the weather here's nbc meteorologist bill karins. leapt me guess it's hot out there? >> yes. the big question is what will it be like for the fireworks displace. you have the outdoor concert in washington, d.c. and thunderstorms tomorrow. beautiful day in northeast down d.c. hot again but sunny and dry, no worry about thunderstorms rolling through. today's forecast 81 and sunny in boston. warmer around new york. 91 today. philly at 93. d.c. 94. humidity is low. it's bearable. thunderstorms could move in late in the afternoon from buffalo back to pittsburgh and definitely through the great lakes. fourth of july forecast does include a chance of showers and

thunderstorms, all of new england down the mid-atlantic, front will be moving through. short-lived popup storms and only last maybe a half hour or so. the timing of those looks to be late afternoon early evening. fireworks, you like to get the fireworks on time. it will be a close call. >> yikes. thanks, bill. more trouble for mel gibson but the latest on the breakup of tom cruise and katie homes. you're watching "first look" on msnbc. purina one discovered that by blending enhanced botanical oils into our food, we can help brighten an old dog's mind so he's up to his old tricks. with this kind of thinking going into our food, imagine all the goodness that can come out of it. just one way we're making the world a better place... one pet at a time. vibrant maturity. from purina one smartblend. perfect golden color.

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this isn't just a teddy bear. it's a step towards normal. it's why allstate catastrophe teams didn't just arrive at these fires with cold water and checks to help the grown-ups start the rebuilding... they also brought thousands of these teddy bears for kids. people come first. everything else is second. [ female announcer ] allstate customers affected by the recent wildfires call 1-800-547-8676. visit a mobile claims office, your agent or allstate.com

welcome back to "first look." nasa scientists took the next crucial step which could be the most ambitious trip in the

history of space exploration. jay gray has the details. >> reporter: science-fiction is slowly giving way to reality at nasa. they will have a ship that will define the future of american manned space exploration. >> travel further into space than any spacecraft for humans flown in 40 years since our astronauts went to the moon. >> reporter: deep space the specific destination. they have have an ambitious goal, unmanned space fight in two years. >> a new exciting chapter in america's great space exploration story. >> reporter: a long range vision made.part as nasa turns to the private sector by a new partnership with private companies to handle low orbit and service to the international space station. giving nasa scientists the space

to focus on a trip further into the stars and the astronauts the opportunity to dream. >> tremendous challenge to take a vehicle like this and go off for potentially a three year mission. >> reporter: for a struggling industry the initial benefit of orion will come more quickly. >> through this program we'll be ending the outsourcing of american space jobs and bringing them right back here, the creator of high skilled, high paying jobs and a force for inspiration. >> reporter: inspiration that could ultimately take us to places we've never been before. jay gray, nbc news. it is time now for your "first look" at entertainment news where the headlines are dominated by the split up of tom cruise and katie holmes. holmes filed for divorce because she feared plans cruise and his church of scientology had in store of fire 6-year-old daughter suri. a source said holmes felt her

every move was controlled and she felt like she was in "rosemary's baby." experts say holmes filed in new york for legal advantages, cruise reportedly plans to file in california where presumably he would have a better chance of partial custody of suri. i've been hearing she's having trouble with that too. bloggers are already asking does tom or katie keep their bff. cruise said he wants to but david in action films but they are in the same shows, checking in on what they are wearing. what are you wearing? you think? don't you hate it when it happens? finally mel gibson's stepmother filed for a restraining order against the actor claiming he's been violent with her. >> people have such a hunger and thirst for all the knowledge on what their relationship was like. >> i have ear muffs about the

entire thing. it's a private matter. >> it's been in tabloids for months. >> i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "first look" on msnbc. stay tuned because way too early with willie geist starts right now. a top romney advisor says the health care law's individual mandate is a penalty not a tax putting it more in line with nancy pelosi and republican colleagues. the question is, is this another etch-a h sketch moment for the romney campaign. it could be several more days before the power is on from north carolina to new jersey. the question is, with the endless heat wave how are millions of people coping without ac. we'll have a report from the ground. and the bad luck continues from the baseball brawl back in 2010. we'll tell you which